RE: The Priorities of Microsoft -- PCTECH

DirectX has also had it's share of security issues so updating that should also 
be considered critical.  DX also affects other aspects of the system (it's not 
really just for gaming) and will make it a little more efficient.

When starting on a fresh Windows install, I've found the most efficient method 
is to do the items that can only be done by themselves first and doing the 
necessary reboots as requested.  Then download the things that don't have to be 
done individually.  This lets you bulk-download the supplemental stuff as well 
as the fixes for the stand-alone downloads in one shot.  When building my 
wife's upgraded PC a couple of weeks ago, the bulk-download was over 70MB.  
Thank goodness for broadband.

BTW, even after that you should keep going back to Windows Update until there 
aren't any more downloads to get as you never know when downloading one patch 
will trigger another (why CUMes aren't available I couldn't tell you).

BTW, if running MS Office, don't forget to go to the Office Update site as 
well.  I use the link from Windows Update.

John A. Jones
Americas Security Officer
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
V: +1-630-455-2787 F: +1-312-601-1782
John.Jones@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: daparnin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:daparnin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 9:21 AM
To: pctech@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [PCTECH] The Priorities of Microsoft

Last week there was a discussion about a scratch install of Windows 98SE, what 
to do, when to do it, etc.  I wasn't the one whose project started the 
discussion but as fate would have it, over the weekend I did a scratch install 
of Windows 98SE on a friend's PC that had apparently never had it done before 
and was in serious need of it.

After the installation of Windows when I did the first Windows Update I knew 
that the first thing that it would do would be to update Internet Explorer to 
the current version but I had never paid much attention to the second and third 
things that Windows Update did.  The second was to load the latest version of 
DirectX.  The third thing was to load the cumulative security update for 
Internet Explorer.  Each required a reboot in between.

If I didn't have a broadband Internet connection and wanted to get on with my 
life I might not have done everything right away.  You would think that with 
the big bull's-eye that Internet Explorer and Windows have painted on them for 
viruses, spyware, etc. Microsoft would have prioritized that over their 
graphics platform.

I wonder who made that decision...?


Dave Parnin
Nishikawa Standard Company
Topeka, IN  46571
daparnin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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